| City of Las Vegas Dangerous Buildings Program |
| Monday, 03 April 2006 | |
|
The City
of Las Vegas has implemented a new
Dangerous/Vacant Buildings
program aimed to improve neighborhood quality
and value by enforcing stricter requirements for maintaining poorly
conditioned vacant properties.
The
city's former code enforcement program required that a
property be secured with boarded windows or possibly a
fence around the outer perimeter, and have a maintained yard free
of trash and overgrown weeds and grass. The new building
program, spurred by City Council's concern over vacant properties,
requires owners to either make a vacant building look
occupied--through replacing window boards with
glass, improving the exterior structural conditions and
maintaining landscaping--or demolish the
property.
Through
the program, the Director of Neighborhood Services will identify a
property as vacant and dangerous, beginning the compliance timeline
for property owners. The new requirements give an owner 60
days to board a property and submit a 12-month action plan, that
must be approved by the director, for either the
rehabilitation or demolition of the building
structure. A property rehabilitation plan can
include actions such as fencing the property perimeter,
painting the property exterior siding and doors, removing all
trash and debris, installing or restoring landscaping,
notifying police to remove all trespassers or posting in
a prominent location that a property is closed to the
public.
If the
property owner does not complete all actions outlined in the
approved plan, the city will complete the work and assess the
owner the cost of labor and materials, plus a 15% fee, in the form
of a property lien. The owner can also face daily fines for
incomplete actions, or, at worst, demolition by the
city.
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